Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Jedi Academy. Characters and situations are mine, with the help of Darkness1. Many thanks.
Star Wars: The New Arrival
Chapter 1: Tatooine
The low call of a bantha echoed through the Beggar's Canyon, shortly followed by the shrill cry of a Tusken Raider. A tall, brownish reddish haired boy clutched at his E-11 Blaster Rifle, while staring idly at the star filled sky. The gun had dents and scratches from countless sand storms working on the old moisture evaporators. The boy reached over to release the safety catch, when his father, two miles away, called him.
"Utsuru, where are you son? A squad of Sand People is headed this way!" Grabbing his electro binoculars, Raven Yabonaba scanned the horizon. He again called, "Utsuru! Where are you?" When no answer returned, he muttered, "Stupid, arrogant, little retch. I never should have bought you that landspeeder."
Just then, Raven's comlink signaled. He grabbed it and punched "Transmit." He barked, "Yes, what is it?" Relief soon flooded him as he heard Utsuru's voice.
"Dad, I saw a bantha a few miles off the old east evaporators. I'm over here with my rifle and speeder. I'm going after him." The transmission was interrupted by a loud screech from a Sand Person. Before it cut out completely, Raven heard the fast discharging of the blaster. He yelled, "Utsuru! Stars and galaxies! I hope you have backup." Then, just to be safe, he grabbed his own rifle and hopped onto a battered swoop bike and roared off in the direction of the east evaporators.
At the evaporators, Utsuru shot a quick burst of fire from his rifle at the Sand Person on a ledge about ten feet up. It just grunted and threw his gaffi stick at the youth. Utsuru ducked and grabbed the single thermal detonator from his belt, throwing it up. The blast knocked the Tusken from his perch, onto level playing field with Utsuru. It ran over and knocked the rifle out of his grasp, then went to retrieve its gaffi stick. Utsuru, faintly conscious, tried to grab his rifle, which was just out of reach. The Sand Person had found its stick and stabbed Utsuru's left arm. Crying out, he strained and, suddenly the weapon slid about a foot closer, within rolling distance. Surprised, he rolled to it and pulled a quick burst off, hitting the Raider squarely in the back of the head. The laser bolt pierced his skull, leaving only a small hole as evidence. It roared a hoarse challenge and collapsed, gadderffi stick lost in the dust of the desert. Utsuru stared at his own hand in disbelief. How did I do that? He thought. Then, a quick flashback occurred, he remembered his father telling him about the Old Republic and the Jedi Knights. How they were able to use something called the Force. Still wondering about the past, the roar of a swoop bike reached his ears.
Raven called, "Utsuru! Thank the maker you're okay!" He noticed the fallen Sand Person. Checking the robe color and checking the style of the gaffi stick, he roared, "You killed him? How could you? This is the leader of the Tusken clan H'arrattr. You realize you just put a death toll on your own head?"
Utsuru numbly responded, "He attacked first. I was just defending myself." He staggered over to his speeder and sat down with his head swaying lightly in his hands. "What was I supposed to do Dad? Just stand there and let him kill me? Die because I was fixing an old evaporator?" He turned on the speeder and revved the engine, churning up a miniature sandstorm beneath his vehicle. "I'll see you at home. I've got work to finish." With that, he roared away, pointing his speeder in the direction of Anchorhead.
Raven shook his head and was about to climb onto his speeder, when the Tusken grunted. Slowly, the creature sat up and began trying to find his gaffi stick. Once it had the weapon, it began to advance on Raven. "No! Stay back! I'm warning you!" He flicked off the safety catch and raised his blaster. He depressed the trigger… but the gun remained quiet. He tried again, but to the same effect. He finally noticed that there was no power pack inside his gun. Desperately trying to pull one from his belt, he forgot to keep an eye on the Raider. It roared a quick battle cry and with a mighty swing of its gaffi stick, pierced through Raven's skull. The man collapsed heavily on the ground, creating a small dust storm. The Raider trundled off to find its mount, becoming a smaller and smaller speck on the horizon.
Meanwhile, Utsuru was wondering where his father was. He wondered, "Why isn't Dad back yet? He should have been back hours ago." He pulled out his comlink and while punching in his father's frequency, he muttered, "Must be over at the Lard's stead." When the comlink beeped for about a minute, he knew something was wrong. Shutting it down, he reactivated it and punched in the Lard's homestead. Mr. Lard answered, "Yes? James speaking."
Utsuru said, "This is Utsuru. Is my father there?"
James thought deeply, "No, he's not here now, but he stopped by a few hours ago on his way to Anchorhead for supplies. Why?" But the last word didn't go through, since his comlink had started beeping, signaling that Utsuru had cut the connection. "Blasted teenagers. No respect."
Utsuru tried every known homestead, trying to find his father. All turned up the same: no one had seen him for hours. He glanced at the chronometer on the wall, seeing the time was 23:59. He went to activate the security field and shut the power down for the night. "Dad will be back tomorrow," he told himself and went to sleep. But it eluded him. The night was filled with horrible nightmares of his father's death. Every time Utsuru woke up, drenched in sweat, he shook his head and went back to sleep, only to be plagued with a different dream. The process continued until he finally had enough of it. He pulled on a tunic, a pair of pants and pulled on his utility belt, blaster strapped securely in place.
He wrote a small note for his mother, "Dad still not back yet. Gone to look for him. Back soon. Utsuru" and ran to the garage and roared off in his speeder, starting with the nearest set of evaporators, to the north. He found everything there was clear, besides a few womp rats, which he blasted and moved to the west, finding the exact same thing. Going to the south, he found a damaged, sparking evaporator and a few lone dewbacks, munching on some wires. He let it go, thinking he'd fix it later, moving to the east evaporators.
He found his father's swoop still idling where he had left it. As if he knew what had happened, he yelled, "DAD! Where are you?" He repeated this several time, running forward, sand flying behind him. He saw the footprints walking away from the cliff, where the Tusken had been. Swallowing a growing lump in his throat, he slowly moved forward. When he was about ten feet in front of the cliff, he noticed an unmoving shape, spread eagled on the ground.
Utsuru said, almost frightfully, "Dad?" The shape didn't move. He moved a foot closer. "Dad?" Again, no response or movement. Two feet this time. "Dad?" Nothing. He walked as slowly as he dared towards it, slowly seeing the blood stained sand around the area. He knew what was coming before he saw it. One last time he called, "Dad?" The word echoed around the cliff, causing him to jump. Braving it, he walked forward to see the shattered pieces of skull around his father's broken body. When he saw this, he turned his head and vomited, no longer able to hold his stomach. He just sat down next to his father's body and cried. His comlink signaled, so he sniffed, tears still in his eyes and turned on the device.
His mother's voice asked, "Utsuru, have you found your father? He's still not back."
His voice barely a whisper, he said, "He's dead mom. He's dead."
Silence came back from the other end. He shut down the communication and hitched the swoop to his speeder, dumping his father's body in the backseat of the speeder. Angry with himself, almost, he kicked the rear cargo canister of the battered bike Just then, he noticed a flash of silver inside. Curious, he grabbed it, seeing it was a hilt of some sort. Noticing the stud on the side, he pushed it, bringing the lightsaber to life with a snaphisssss. The silver blade cast an eerie glow around the immediate area, starling Utsuru. Hitting the stud again, the blade vanished with a shhhhppp. Roaring back to the house, he wondered why his father had hidden it from him. Finally reaching the compound, he rushed inside, asking his mother about the hilt.
"Why did you hide it from me? I had a right to know about this! Just because I know about something, doesn't mean I'm going to run around like some crazy Jedi, trying to save the galaxy from evil!"
She shuddered visibly, saying, "We wanted to protect you. Your grandfather was a Jedi; he died during the Clone Wars. We thought if we had hid this from you, you wouldn't want to go around and do just what he did: save the galaxy from evil."
Just as she finished, a dark, cowled figure stepped into the kitchen. Speaking in a deep voice, the intruder said, "Sorry to intrude. I'm here to talk to Utsuru."
Well, that's chapter one people. Hope you liked it! Thanks to Darkness1 for help with the names of the characters (some you've already met, some you'll meet later on)
R & R please! Mission suggestions will be taken. Also, as with Darky, my MSN is open to anyone who wants to talk to me in a nice way. The address is please don't rush me to update anything. I've got school, music lessons, Youth group and Sunday worship band practice. Darkness1 fills beta reading position, so don't bother asking to do so.
Thanks
DashRendar